Southern hospitality
Are you in a field where you must meet the public? Working retail …hanging an "open" neon sign…means inviting all comers- and putting up with questions. 
“How am I going to know what color blooms these Crape Myrtles will have? I don’t have time for this.” said the Shrubbery Manager of a large local nursery last September. I was looking to buy a small tree… which could spend a few decades as flowerbed centerpiece. Past the period of flowering…I asked what I thought was a reasonable question. I was rebuffed. So I gambled and took one home blind to the color of its flower. Perhaps I am too sensitive to the affect in someone’s tone of voice. The point of today’s blog has a little to do with flora and more to do with Southern hospitality (which includes the common courtesy of tolerating the ignorance of others). Sure, the little inane questions can get under your skin. Maybe she was just having a bad day. The crape myrtle did bloom on June 30th. Mystery revealed. I feel like I won a small prize on the daily lottery. The variety was Prarie Lace. The only two toned flower on Clemson’s website. Pink blossoms and white edges. I thought about sharing my good fortune with the Shrubbery Manager…but, she may also lack the “Southern” trait of saying something complimentary even if she thinks it looks ghastly.
--James
http://www.flight-of-ideas.com
“How am I going to know what color blooms these Crape Myrtles will have? I don’t have time for this.” said the Shrubbery Manager of a large local nursery last September. I was looking to buy a small tree… which could spend a few decades as flowerbed centerpiece. Past the period of flowering…I asked what I thought was a reasonable question. I was rebuffed. So I gambled and took one home blind to the color of its flower. Perhaps I am too sensitive to the affect in someone’s tone of voice. The point of today’s blog has a little to do with flora and more to do with Southern hospitality (which includes the common courtesy of tolerating the ignorance of others). Sure, the little inane questions can get under your skin. Maybe she was just having a bad day. The crape myrtle did bloom on June 30th. Mystery revealed. I feel like I won a small prize on the daily lottery. The variety was Prarie Lace. The only two toned flower on Clemson’s website. Pink blossoms and white edges. I thought about sharing my good fortune with the Shrubbery Manager…but, she may also lack the “Southern” trait of saying something complimentary even if she thinks it looks ghastly.
--James
http://www.flight-of-ideas.com
posted by James at 1:01 AM
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